Microclimate Thermal Management Using Thermoelectric Air-Cooling Duct System Operated at Five Incremental Powers and its Effect on Sleep Adaptation of the Occupants

Kashif Irshad, Salem Algarni, Mohammad Tauheed Ahmad, Sayed Ameenuddin Irfan, Khairul Habib, Mostafa A.H. Abdelmohimen, Md. Hasan Zahir and Gulam Mohammed Sayeed Ahmed
Additional contact information
Kashif Irshad: Center of Research Excellence in Renewable Energy (CoRE-RE), King Fahd University of Petroleum &Minerals, Dhahran 31261, Saudi Arabia
Salem Algarni: Department of Mechanical Engineering, King Khalid University, Abha 61413, Saudi Arabia
Mohammad Tauheed Ahmad: College of Medicine, King Khalid University, Abha 61413, Saudi Arabia
Sayed Ameenuddin Irfan: Department of Fundamental and Applied Sciences, Universiti Teknologi PETRONAS, Bandar Seri Iskandar, Perak Darul Ridzuan 32610, Malaysia
Khairul Habib: Department of Mechanical Engineering, Universiti Teknologi PETRONAS, Bandar Seri Iskandar, Perak Darul Ridzuan 32610, Malaysia
Mostafa A.H. Abdelmohimen: Department of Mechanical Engineering, King Khalid University, Abha 61413, Saudi Arabia
Md. Hasan Zahir: Center of Research Excellence in Renewable Energy (CoRE-RE), King Fahd University of Petroleum &Minerals, Dhahran 31261, Saudi Arabia
Gulam Mohammed Sayeed Ahmed: Department of Mechanical Engineering, King Khalid University, Abha 61413, Saudi Arabia

Energies, 2019, vol. 12, issue 19, 1-25

Abstract: In this study, the microclimate of the test room was regulated using thermoelectric air duct cooling system (TE-AD) operated at input powers-240 W, 360 W, 480 W, 600 W, 720 W, and 840 W, on subsequent nights. Fifteen (15) healthy male volunteers were recruited to sleep under these test conditions and their sleep quality was assessed by studying objective measures such as sleep onset latency (SOL), mean skin temperature and heart rate as well as subjective parameters like predicted mean vote (PMV) and predicted percentage of dissatisfied (PPD). There was a consistent improvement on all studied parameters when the power of the system was increased from 240 W to 720 W. The mean sleep onset latency time was reduced from (M = 40.7 +/− 0.98 min) to (M = 18.33 +/− 1.18 min) when the operating power was increased from 240 W to 720 W, denoting an improvement in sleep quality. However, increasing the power further to 840 W resulted in deteriorating cooling performance of the TE-AD system leading to an increase in temperature of the test room and reduction in sleep comfort. Analysis of subjective indices of thermal comfort viz. PMV and PPD revealed that subjects are highly sensitive towards variations in microclimate achieved by changing the operating power of the TE-AD. This device was also found to be environmentally sustainable, with estimated reduction in CO 2 emission calculated to be around 38% as compared to the conventional air-conditioning.

Keywords: sleeping comfort; adaptive model; thermoelectric cooling; variable operating power; CO 2 emission (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/12/19/3695/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/12/19/3695/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jeners:v:12:y:2019:i:19:p:3695-:d:271448

Access Statistics for this article

Energies is currently edited by Ms. Agatha Cao

More articles in Energies from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().